Women’s History Month: The New York Studio School and the Whitney Museum

In the 1800s, women had to fight to gain the same educational opportunities as men. FindingDulcinea highlights some of the institutions and educators that forged the path for women’s education.

In July 1848, the Women’s Rights Convention was held in Seneca Falls, N.Y. It was the opening salvo of the battle for women’s suffrage, although many years would pass before its proponents would finally achieve victory.

The women who found work in the mills of Lowell, Mass., during the first half of the 19th century also found a reason to rebel.

Was it witchcraft, simple hysteria or a hallucinogenic poison? Hundreds of people were accused of doing the devil’s work during the Salem witch trials.

Atlanta has always been an economic force. Essential to the South during the Civil War, it was the first city targeted during the Union’s “total war.” The birthplace of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and its first leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Atlanta was at the forefront of the civil rights movement. In 1973, Atlanta was the first city to elect a black mayor. Now, it continues to be a hotspot for both tourism and commerce.

Known as the “Magic City,” Birmingham was created at the end of the Civil War with the explicit purpose of bringing successful northern industries to the South. Nearly one hundred mostly prosperous years later, the city became a focus of the civil rights movement. Although scarred by tragedy during that period, modern Birmingham, Alabama’s largest city, is a key industrial center for the nation and is often named as a favorable city for business and quality of life.

Witness to one of the defining moments in the U.S. civil rights movement, Little Rock, Ark., made history in 1957 when nine African American students tested federal anti-segregation laws in public schools for the first time. Even before that seminal 1957 event, Little Rock had been the scene of both progress and setbacks for African Americans in their struggle for equality and civil rights. Today, Little Rock is a thriving center of business and government, as well as home to a nascent tourism industry.

Decades of history come full circle in Montgomery, Ala. The pursuit of equal rights for all people links many of the city's historic events, from the controversy over slavery that launched the Civil War, to the civil rights movement of the 20th century; the events and places of Montgomery's past and future seem destined to meet up with each other.